Leonaert Bramer is a Dutch artist that mainly worked in Delft.

Many of Bramer’s works varies from book illustrations, pottery, oil on canvas and fresco painting. Bramer is recorded to have made over 140 illustrations for books that served as translations, for books that were being translated and also commentary for books that were already translated. Unfortunately many of Bramer’s pottery and fresco paintings have not survived and are only known through writings describing them and book illustrations. Bramer became known for his “nocturnal religious” scenes and earned the nickname “Leonardo della Notte” or Leonardo of the night.Leonaert Bramer’s The Circumcision 1630 is a small oil on copper nocturnal religious painting that tells the story of Christ being circumcised. Bramer drew a number of studies of this scene arranging the figures in different arrangements before he created this final oil on copper piece. One of Bramer’s studies has survived and is currently in The Metropolitan Museum Of Art’s private collection.

By Tyler Henderson